Smita Tewari

Sainthood

I saw life in the faces of saints, full of false promises,
I saw in their austerity a glimpse of the politician,
their search for truth a hoax or a passion, escaping from life, from its illusions.
I saw in their eyes a fear of love, being as ephemeral as life itself,
I saw in their faces a mask of eternal bliss, deluded by the transitory, by its trappings,
a lurking fear that others might know that even they were suffering from the
claustrophobia of sainthood